Happy Birthday Phoebe!!!

Today is Phoebe's birthday. I can't believe she's 7!!


Here's a picture from yesterday, her last day as a 6 year old...


And here she is today, her first day as a 7 year old. See the difference?

We had a fabulous day. Allen took the day off from work and we all went to Six Flags. P finished school on May 12, and most other schools don't get out until June, so it was a light day at the park. We parked really close to the gate.

Here she is, ready to take on the roller coasters. She's 48 inches tall, which doesn't get her on many more rides that last summer when she was 43 inches tall, but it did get her on the Tony Hawk Big Spin. Sweet. Even though she rode the Shock Wave twice last summer, she did not care to ride it today.

She and Allen rode the Aquaman ride, cause it's the best way to cool down.

Still looking like a rock star, soaking wet. I LOVE those sunglasses. P does too. Jo does too and held them today...and broke them in half....Let us never speak of it again. I hope Libby Lu still has them.

Jo did pretty well. There were several times that she really wanted out of her stroller. We finally let her out to run around in a kids' play area with misters. She loved it.

After running around, cooling off, and getting a dry diaper, she was happy to get back in the stroller.

As I said, we had a great day. No visit to Six Flags would be complete without a Pink Thing.

We bought season tickets, so we will definitely be visiting again soon.

Guess What We Did Today!

Here's a clue...
If you said, "Went to court to register Josie's adoption in Texas", you'd be right. This is something that isn't really legally necessary, but since it will allow Jo to have a Texas birth certificate, it does come in handy when we need a birth certificate for school. This is something that can't be done until the adopted child has lived in Texas for six months, so we aren't THAT far behind. What actually makes the timing perfect is the fact that one year ago today, our adoption of Josie became official and was recognized by the Chinese government.

I realize that my head is turned in the picture above, but there were only two pics and no one looks that great in the second one, including me. Since Jo didn't get to wear her red qi pao for Chinese New Year, we decided today was a good time for her to wear it.

And since everyone was dressed up...

Just look at my girls!

Jo and her Dada.


As much as I love that rose bush...

...it's just a backdrop.

One Year Later

Here are a few pictures of Jo from yesterday as we marked our 1 year as a family.


Well, first, I had to post this picture of a miracle in progress. P ASKED to mop! She mopped the entire downstairs. I told her she could mop once a week if she wanted to.


Here's our girl.

Riding her zebra - doesn't everyone have a zebra?


Dancing! I love that face!

Dancing some more.

Smile for mama. Look! No scratches on her nose or forehead! There are few pics like this.

I could look at this all day.


And last but not least...

...our rocker girl!

Happy Adoption Day, baby!


EDITED TO ADD: I should say thanks to Jo's fab Godmother for the hat (and the other 3). Jo loves them!

One Year in Our Lives

This is a never before seen video...


So many thoughts going through my head remembering the day. Every bit of it. The room was warm and humid, the windows were open, crying babies, crying parents. Sweet little Meaghan walked out of the room where the babies were into her mommy's outstretched arms. One baby girl was wearing pj pants that said, "I'm the big brother!" on them. Trying to learn from orphanage staff just how hot those bottles had to be. So much emotion in the room on all sides.

Jo slept about 13 hours that night. We woke up before her and just stared at her watching her sleep.

How About That!

I saw this today when I was closing the blinds on the windows in our playroom. I may have been more excited than Phoebe, but that's OK. Those are tiny eggs. The fact that they are "robin's egg blue", makes me think they may be robin eggs. Well, that and the fact that when I see them I think, "Mmmmm. Malted milk balls."

The nest is in this vine that's growing up the side of our house. It's in the second window from the right. I guess they're safe from the roaming neighborhood cats up there.
I ripped this vine down last year, but I didn't dig it up. When it came back this year I was only slightly annoyed. It does have lovely yellow flowers like one day a year. I was planning to go rip it down again. I guess I won't do that.

Now, if only the storms we're expecting tonight don't rip it down.

Happy Mother's Day!

My first Mother's Day as officially a mother of two. I'm a little teary thinking about last year at this time.

On this DATE last year, we were in Beijing getting ready to fly to Guangzhou.

On the DAY last year, Mother's Day, we were one day away from meeting our dear Jojo. I can't believe it's been a year.

I'm not sure how we will celebrate on Wednesday, the date she was given to us, but we will celebrate. Maybe I'll manage to get some pictures taken and posted.

I know this post is a bit boring, but I have so many things going through my head right now and I'm a tiny bit emotional.

Here's hoping that our second year with Jo will be even better than the first. The first flew by and I felt like I was just hanging on for dear life. NOW, I feel like I can actually start living.

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